特斯联完成12亿元B1轮融资，光大控股、IDG领投，商汤科技跟投 – 36Kr
What happened: Terminus, an IoT unicorn providing artificial intelligence and smart city solutions, announced that the company has completed an RMB 1.2 billion ($173 million) Series B1 led by China Everbright and IDG with SenseTime participating. Terminus has implemented around 8,335 projects nationwide. Regarding public safety projects it assists, the company claims that Terminus’ technology could help reduce the crime rate by over 90% and save energy used in buildings by 30%. Terminus says order values it has recorded so far in 2018 has surpassed RMB 1 billion.
Why it’s important: China’s IoT field is seeing increasing participation of state-backed capital players such as Everbright and smart city giants including SenseTime. The trend will last as national capital assists Beijing with public safety tasks and related giants look for project cooperation and interest tie-up. Meanwhile, general tech players are also eyeing the field as profit opportunities as other sectors decline. Pony Ma, during a recent car industry IoT conference, explicitly said that IoT is the company’s next priority.